The Problem of Interpretation

Abstract

‘If Descartes has imposed on subsequent philosophers a requirement of rigorous method, Hegel has obliged them not only to account for their own views but also to explain the existence of contrary convictions and opinions.’2 It seems that all philosophies, both actual and possible, rest on cognitional activity either as correctly conceived or as distorted by oversights and mistaken orientations. We ask the question whether there is a single basis from which any philosophical theory or system can be interpreted rightly, and we argue that our cognitional analysis provides such a basis. ‘In this fashion, the a priori element of cognitional analysis joins hands with the a posteriori element of historical data.’3